Midland man turns MS diagnosis into mission for health

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, April 27, 2008

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Midland man turns MS diagnosis into mission for health

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Rudi Hahn is proving something today.

The 51-year-old Midland resident will run 5 kilometers as part of the 2008 Walk MS despite his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis that a year ago left him unable to stand for more than 15 minutes and restricted to walking with a cane.

The transformation started small, with two pound weights and a walk across the gym at Smitty's Ironworks to help him trust his legs again. It's grown into hour-and-a-half long workouts five days a week, proving to himself that the disease doesn't have to be debilitating.

"I want people to know I have MS and I run, I work out, I do what I want to," he said.

The 2008 Walk MS begins at 9 a.m. today at Dow Diamond, and it will be Hahn's first time getting involved. He's grown comfortable with his 4-year-old diagnosis and has taken control of his life, no longer allowing himself to accept the limitations his body began placing on him.

In Michigan, more than 16,000 people are living with MS, which is a chronic disease that impacts the central nervous system. MS is thought to be an autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to incorrectly attack a person's healthy tissue.

The disease can lead to limitations in muscle use and control. That's exactly what first tipped Hahn off that something was wrong.

Shortly after moving to Michigan from Florida he noticed his legs becoming weak.

"One day I was walking and I fell," he said. "I just lost control."

After visiting his doctor he learned he had MS and began taking several medications. In his personal life, he began to close off, facing the fear of the new unknown future in his life. Working out offered him a new focus.

"Now I'm sprinting and training and working on balance - all the things I had given up on," he said.

He's also branching out to leave his comfort zone and experience more of Midland. He likes to draw and paint, and is considering taking up bicycling on the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail.

In his condominium, next to the fireplace, is a cane he had to use in the past but no longer needs. On his kitchen counter sit five bottles of medicines, costing hundreds of dollars per month, that he had to take but no longer needs.

"I keep them as a memory," he said. "I like to see where I've come from."

His trainer knows how to push him without going too far, he said. He also got inspired by a magazine article about a marathon runner with MS that was given to him by Diane Furst, a friend at his gym.

"I remember the day he came into the gym and told me he had MS and I was devastated for him," Furst said, not knowing what the disease might do to him.

Then she saw the article and gave it to Hahn, not knowing if he'd read it or throw it out. He read it, and took it to heart.

"He still has that magazine," she said. "He's just an inspiration. He is such a wonderful, giving person. He does so much for other people."

Hahn is proof there can be life after an MS diagnosis, Furst said.

Now Hahn has taken it on as a personal mission to get more people working out and thinking about their food choices.

"So many things can be prevented," he said, encouraging people to care for their bodies while there is still time.

"I've sent people to the gym," he said. It's important to me."

With his goal of participating in the walk over after today, Hahn hopes to keep up his weight training and enter a body building competition this August in Flint.

"It's so important to get out there and just try," he said. "You've got to push yourself. It's so important."